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Reflection

In Jesus’ days, leprosy was one of the most horrifying, incurable
diseases. Leprosy was still seen as a curse and punishment from Yahweh as
it was in the Old Testament. People who had the disease were not allowed
to come out in the public. They were forced by law to live in leper colonies.
Lepers were shunned, rejected and sadly separated from non-leprous family
members. We can understand why in the gospel of Lk 17:11-12, the ten lepers
(in colony) met Jesus at the border town. They were “quarantined” and they
had to live outside the town. And when they saw Jesus, they did not get closer;
rather, they stood at a distance shouting “Jesus Son of David, take pity
on us”. This owes

to the first reading of today from the book of Leviticus – “…as
long as the disease lasts, he [the leper] …must live apart: he must live
outside the camp” (Lev. 13:46).

Now here came
a leper kneeling before Jesus to implore His mercy in these words “if you
are willing, you can cure me”. He was very sure that Jesus was capable of
making him well again. What he doubted was whether Jesus too would observe
the custom that sees lepers as outcasts. Already, he had gone against the
law by getting closer to Jesus when he was supposed to stay off at a distance
to shout like the other ten lepers. At this point, everyone else may have
given way, abandoning him to Jesus. But Jesus would not abandon him like
every other person. So He said: “Yes, I am willing, be cured”. He not only
spoke, He stretched out His hands and touched the leper who was supposed
to be unclean.a

Jesus never rejects anyone who comes to him. In your leprous situations,
I mean that which has alienated you from others, all your rejections; Jesus
is the only one who is ever willing to welcome, nay, and also make you qualify
to count among those who matter. He did this by His work on the cross. The
great mystery of the cross is that Jesus chose to become the accursed so that
we would be free. He chose to become the leper, the unclean, so that we would
be clean. The Prophet Isaiah said exactly: “…ours were the sufferings He
bore, ours the sorrows He carried…on Him lies the punishment that brings us
peace, and through His wounds, we are healed” (Is 53:4-5). All it takes is
for us to shun whatever barrier and be bold to come close to him like the
leper who shunned every dictates of the law. He will not turn us back, and
He will put a smiling face on us.

All year round, on Friday only, Mass is also celebrated
at 12.00 noon in St Albans Abbey

Ss Alban & Stephen - Weekly Reflection

Readings for Sunday

First Reading:
Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘If a swelling
or scab or shiny spot appears on a man’s skin, a case of leprosy of the skin
is to be suspected. As long as the disease lasts he must be unclean;
and therefore he must live apart: he must live outside the camp.Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Never do anything offensive to anyone – to Jews or Greeks or to the
Church of God; just as I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not
anxious for my own advantage but for the advantage of everybody else, so
that they may be saved. Gospel Reading: Mark 1:40-45 A leper came to
Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.’
Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘Of
course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him.

Support Catholic
Schools Do you support Catholic schools and their right of Catholics
to send their children to them? Then we need you to make your voice heard.
The Government is making a critical decision on whether to overturn the admission
cap which prevents Catholic Schools from allowing all Catholic pupils to
attend. They have acknowledged that this policy discriminates against Catholics
and promised to abandon it, now we need you to tell them not to u-turn on
their promise to Catholics. Visit http://catholicnews.org.uk or search for ‘Catholic
Education’ in your search engine to write to the Government and urge them
to drop their policy which bans new Catholic Schools.

Offertory Collection Fr TJ has requested that the following method is used to
take up the offertory collection at the 6pm, 9.30am, 11.30am and 7pm weekend
Masses. Bags will be placed on the hooks at the end of pews in the centre
aisle.

If you are closest to one, please take the bag and pass along the pew and
then move it to the row behind until it reaches one that has already been
completed.

Please ensure that the bag is returned to the centre aisle from where one
of the collectors will gather it. A collector will still go around the side
of the church. Having just one system in place will mean that it will become
familiar to everyone. Thanks for your co-operation on this

People

Wedding Congratulationsto Stacey
O’Connell and Matthew Osborn who were married at our Church recently.
By the way, we are collecting quite
few photographs of parishioners' weddings - some new,
and some a little older -
click here to have a look

Welcome
into the Christian
community Alice Lawton and Emilia Moya Izaon who were baptised at our
Church recently. We also offer our congratulations
to their parents.

The
Deceased Please pray for
the repose of the souls of all those who have died recently including Murthy Govindasamy,
Paul Kennedy, Kate Kelly, Antonio Del Core, Joseph Lynch and Fr. Tom Hewitt
MSC and for those whose anniversaries occur at this
time, including Ines Quinteross